For the fourth quarter, Verizon reported revenue of $31.07 billion and earnings per share of 66 cents, both of which barely beat consensus analyst expectations. The largest cellphone carrier in the U.S. added 1.7 million net retail wireless connections in the fourth quarter, excluding acquisitions and adjustments. Of that figure, 1.6 million were connections that had monthly service contracts. The New York-based company also said that overall service revenue increased 8% to $17.7 billion.

News also broke Tuesday that Verizon would acquire Intel Media, a start-up business inside Intel (INTC) that had been working on an Internet-based television service. The exact dollar amount Verizon paid is unclear, but various media reports said that Intel had been seeking approximately $500 million. The Wall Street Journalreported last month that Verizon may pay less than $200 million.

TheStreet Ratings team rates VERIZON COMMUNICATIONS INC as a Buy with a ratings score of A-. TheStreet Ratings Team has this to say about their recommendation:

"We rate VERIZON COMMUNICATIONS INC (VZ) a BUY. This is based on the convergence of positive investment measures, which should help this stock outperform the majority of stocks that we rate. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its revenue growth, increase in net income, good cash flow from operations, expanding profit margins and growth in earnings per share. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had somewhat disappointing return on equity."

Highlights from the analysis by TheStreet Ratings Team goes as follows:

VZ's revenue growth has slightly outpaced the industry average of 3.5%. Since the same quarter one year prior, revenues slightly increased by 4.4%. Growth in the company's revenue appears to have helped boost the earnings per share.

The net income growth from the same quarter one year ago has significantly exceeded that of the S&P 500 and the Diversified Telecommunication Services industry. The net income increased by 40.1% when compared to the same quarter one year prior, rising from $1,593.00 million to $2,232.00 million.

Net operating cash flow has increased to $11,239.00 million or 18.46% when compared to the same quarter last year. The firm also exceeded the industry average cash flow growth rate of -7.14%.

The gross profit margin for VERIZON COMMUNICATIONS INC is rather high; currently it is at 63.80%. It has increased from the same quarter the previous year. Regardless of the strong results of the gross profit margin, the net profit margin of 7.37% trails the industry average.

VERIZON COMMUNICATIONS INC has improved earnings per share by 39.3% in the most recent quarter compared to the same quarter a year ago. This company has reported somewhat volatile earnings recently. But, we feel it is poised for EPS growth in the coming year. During the past fiscal year, VERIZON COMMUNICATIONS INC reported lower earnings of $0.31 versus $0.86 in the prior year. This year, the market expects an improvement in earnings ($2.83 versus $0.31).